Melbourne, a wet night in November,citizens wander the back lanes aimlessly, dogs slink for scraps,milk crates loiter, roller shutters rattle in the wind,a cigarette flares in a dark alcove

Hidden in shadow at the opposite end of the alley, stands a cop called Braille. It isn’t his real name, but down in Chinatown that’s what he goes by – he is renowned for his unique method of extracting information using his hands. The sudden appearance of a man and woman, unfamiliar to Braille, causes him to draw back into the alcove and stub his cigarette. He’s waiting for Branko to show and is watching with amusement as his informer Guido is rolled in the garbage for his wallet by a tag team of thugs. Braille carefully places the light bulb he has removed from the downstairs landing, on the tread of the bottom step and climbs the sixteen concrete stairs to the first floor. He pulls open an unsigned firedoor and steps into the Yuen Lum Low Chinese restaurant, as if he owns it.

Comments

Utterly scrumptious, Rhoufi. The whole kit and caboodle! The overlay/ underplay/ merge of written and visual text is pretty slick – in the best possible way. Are there sequels? Prequels?

Ah, Evelyn! Quick as a flash you pounce ;-)Well I haven’t thought about it really, that was just the mood that struck me as I was processing the image (that and Blade Runner of course). I have been affectionately rebuked in the past for leaving stories in my Description Panel apparently unfinished. This time I should try to do something about it. We’ll see, it will depend on the capture of another photo of the right mood. Thank you so much for the prod.

There’s something to be said for your stories just as they are because they concern only the moment captured in photo :) Now a series along the lines of the ‘lonely’ ones could be ddifferent. Well done my friend :-))

Thanks BC. Yes there is something about just dropping into a story and being whipped out again that appeals to me. I hope it leaves the reader wondering what came before and what might come later. The idea of a series of photos with connected stories interests me. Hmmmm…

Melbourne has the best alleys for these kinds of images and stories! Fabulous!

Thanks Mel, yes it’s really nice getting lost in these alleys and when it rains the neon goes all rainbow on the slick bitumen and the cobbles. Special time and atmosphere. I never remember to take my tripod, because I like to just loiter as light as possible; a watcher in the shadows that’s me ;-)))))

Tripods? oh no! These alleys ( lanes) call out for shooting on the run and from the hip. :-))I have a whole different impression of Melbourne from your work,and others, Certainly not the place I thought it was :-))

My thoughts exactly BC, I just like wandering with my snub-nose 70mm prime and shooting on the run. The tripods are a chain around your neck.

Yes Melbourne can look squesky clean from afar, but that’s not the side of it I like. Bohemia exists in every city until the money sniffs it out and moves in to commercialize it.

– Rhoufi

JanTalmost 4 years ago

Love this, both slick, wet texture on the alley and your writing, R!

Hi Jan, thank you. I haven’t written anything for a while and I just had to put something down for the atmosphere of this shot.

Thanks Bjondon, yes I see that side of it because the atmosphere reminds me of the Blade Runner movie, which is very mythical. The sort of inevitability of social decline followed by redemption. Myths are just wonderful.